Automatic plastic button attachment



Dec. 9, 1958 N. STATHAM AUTOMATIC PLASTIC BUTTON ATTACHMENT Filed Nov. 8, 1956 INVENTOR NOEL STATHAM BYE 3 AT ORNEYS.

United States Patent 9 AUTOMATIC PLASTIC BUTTON ATTACHMENT Noel Statham, New Canaan, Conn.

Application November 8, 1956, Serial No. 621,179

2 Claims. (Cl. 24-90) This invention relates to buttons having plastic bodies which comprise head and neck portions. A button of this kind is commonly provided with a cross-bore through the neck portion so that it may be stitched to a garment or secured thereto by a ring or pin which functions substantially as a cotter pin.

The present invention, however, has to do with a button which includes a plastic body of the kind referred to in combination with a flat-headed metallic fastening member having a barbed shank, the shank being driven axially through the neck and into the head of the button body, and being retained against withdrawal by a ratchet action of the barbs.

It is a feature that the plastic body, though deformable enough to be penetrated by the fastener shank as the shank is driven in, is nevertheless sufficiently unyielding and elastic to resist distortion with substantial force so that the applied button is held securely in place.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing forming part of this specification,

Fig. 1 is a view in vertical section, showing an illustrative button embodying features of the invention applied to a piece of fabric;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the fastener which forms a part of the button of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, similar to Fig. 1, showing a modified view of another illustrative button, the section being taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

In Fig. 1, the illustrative button comprises an ornamental plastic body 12 and a flat-head fastener 14, the fastener serving as a means for attaching the body to a piece of fabric 16. The plastic body 12 includes a head 18 and a neck 20. The headed metallic fastener 14 includes a barbed shank which is driven through the fabric 16 and into the body 12 for its entire length. The neck 20 terminates in a fiat face which engages the fabric in opposition to the flat under surface of the head of the fastener 14. By this means the fabric is gripped between the neck and the fastener head over an extensive area. This causes the button to be securely and stably attached to the fabric. It also distributes the strain which the button puts on the fabric instead of permitting the strain to be borne solely by the shank of the fastener.

The method of attachment is simple, quick and inexpensive, since it involves only a driving operation which can be effected at a single stroke.

Various plastics may be used for the button body, such as celluloid or any of the many celluloid-like plastics including cellulose acetate, polyvinal alcohol, polyvinal acetals, ethyl cellulose, various of the nylons, methyl methacrylates, and many others. When the plastic used is comparable in hardness and ease of penetration to, say, soft wood, the body does not require to be axially pre- 2,863,197 Patented Dec. 9, 1958 ICC etration, but the bore should be of small enough diameter to provide a driven fit for the barbed shank of the fastener- The fastener should be composed of a metal or alloy of sufficient hardness and rigidity to effect the desired penetration of the button body. It should at the same time be formed of rustproof material or be provided with a rustproof coating. Suitable materials includestainless steel and brass. Steel and steel alloys, which are chrome plated, nickel plated, cadmium plated, or galvanized, are also considered suitable.

The barbs 22 on the fastener shank are desirably formed to extend outward toward the head of the fastener so that they will exercise a ratchet effect, resisting withdrawal once the fastener has been driven into the button body.

The button of Figs. 3 and 4 is like the button of Fig. 1, save that a cross-bore 24 is formed through the neck 20a of the button body 12a. The bore 24 is of considerably larger diameter than the shank of the fastener 14a, so that the fastener shank, having penetrated the neck portion beneath the bore 24, will extend freely across the bore and will have its sharp tip embedded in the head 18a. The bore 24 obviates the need for axial pro-boring of the body material, even when comparatively hard material is employed, because the fastener is required to penetrate only a limited thickness of the material in the lower end of the neck 20a before entering the bore, and because the bore provides a burr space into which the plastic material displaced from the neck by the fastener may flow. The cross-bore has the further advantage that it provides a free space in which the barbs may expand to their natural shapes so that a portion of the barbs, at least, will project outward to overlie marginal areas of the neck which surround the passage along which the fastener shank extends. This increases the effective ness of the barbs in opposing Withdrawal or loosening of the fastener. The cross-bore 24 has the still further advantage that a detached button body can, as an emergency measure, be temporarily stitched to the fabric with needle and thread.

While certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be understood that changes may be made therein and the invention embodied in other structures. It is not therefore the intension to limit the patent to the specific constructions illustrated, but to cover the invention broadly in Whatever form its principles may be utilized.

I claim:

1. A button comprising, in combination, a body of deformable plastic material including a head, a neck unitary with the head, which terminates in a flat face at the end remote from the head, and a flat-headed metallic fastener having a barbed shank driven through the neck and into the head and retained therein by a ratchet effect exerted by the barbs, said neck being formed with a diametrical cross-bore of substantially largerdiameter than the fastener shank, said bore serving to accommodate the burred plastic displaced by the driving in of the fastener shank, and to permit a portion, at least, of the barbs to spring outward to an unstrained condition. in which they overlie marginal portions surrounding the passage through which they entered the button body.

2. A button as set forth in claim 1, in which the plastic body is of a material having a hardness and elasticitysubstantially within the range of wood, and the fastener References Cited in the file of this patent is formed of a metal hard enough to penetrate the plastic UNITED STATES PATENTS body without deformatlon and to produce cold flow thered D of, and has a surface Portion, at least, .Whl Ch is non-t 6 g i gl g-:

rustable.

' FOREIGN PATENTS 9,887 Great Britain Apr. 29, 1902 

